2,362 millionaires got unemployment checks in '09

Oct. 2, 2012
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The iconic Mr. Monopoly, symbol of the popular board game. A study by the Congressional Research Service found that 2,362 households with incomes above $1 million received unemployment benefits in 2009. / Parker Brothers

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

Unemployment checks in 2009 went to 2,362 households with incomes of $1 million or more, the Congressional Research Service reports.

An additional 954,000 households earning more than $100,000 a year also received jobless benefits during the Great Recession. The report also reported that 2,840 millionaire households received unemployment benefits in 2008, and that 816,700 beneficiaries earned between $100,000 and $1 million that year, Bloomberg notes.

Congress is considering ending such taxpayer support for high earners.

"Sending millionaires unemployment checks is a case study in out-of-control spending," U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Bloomberg in an e-mail. "Providing welfare to the wealthy undermines the program for those who need it most while burdening future generations with senseless debt."

The Senate is considering legislation that includes a Coburn-sponsored provision to deny unemployment benefits to people with assets of at least $1 million in the year before they filed a jobless claim.

The report by the CRS, a division of the Library of Congress, was released this past August, after 99 weeks of jobless benefits ran out for about 1.1 million Americans. The unemployment rate stands at 8.1%

Coburn found that 18 households reporting an adjusted gross income that exceeded $10 million received an average unemployment benefit of $12,333 in 2009. The average benefit for 74 households earning between $5 million and $10 million was $18,351. The average household making $1 million or more received $11,113, or about 37 weeks of unemployment benefits.

Bloomberg notes that the reported benefits "may include those received by spouses or dependents of people who made high incomes, or benefits received earlier in the year before a household member got a high-paying job."